issues

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(Markus Hofer, Brian Johnston, Rick Forfar, Donnie Steip)
Issues:
  • takes time to include technology within the lesson, ie. time to hand out equipment (laptops, digital cameras), or not having the hardware (ie. laptops, smart board)
  • lack of technical background amongst teachers (professional development, support from facilitators, co-teaching)
  • more specific lesson plans that incorporate technology are needed
  • student access to technology at home, (hardware, software)
  • equal access to technology within each school in the division

(Teri Weins / Tom Flight / Joanne Sprange)
Issues:
  • Issues of infusing ICT into the curriculum.
    In our group: time for PD- the technology moves so fast and that there are so many things to learn, that we are finding that it is difficult to keep up. With new curric., it is difficult to find the time to get the material/sites to use in class. lab time is limited, esp. when some schools do not have sufficient laptops to support tech. material.
  • Actual logging in of laptops is PAINFUL. The students are beginning to become frustrated when the cart with the laptops come in, as they have to wait for almost 30-40 minutes for the class to log in. this is difficult when working within a specific time frame and the students have to leave for their next class, or the teacher has to leave. i actually have had the students log in on local users and save info to the laptops, but if the laptop is down or out of the building, students do not have something from which to work.
  • Sometimes need to have help/support avail on call.

(Rhonda Arason / Jackie Hodges / Laurie Grzenda)
Issues:
  • time to practice and play
  • trying to stay ahead of the kids
  • breaking the bad habits kids have developed, copying information

(Greg Schettler / Michelle Panting)
Issues:
  • Some issues we have are not knowing where we are going and how we can have students meet the competencies of the 21st century. Examples are Leadership, Communication, Collaboration, Writing (text, email, web, proposals), numeracy (spreadsheets and analysis), Entrepreneurial (management, organization, marketing), Academic, Character (persistence, flexibility, and productivity) skills.

(Susan Phillips / Sylvia Froese)
Issues:
  • we have 2 new curicula (Math and Social Studies). When do we have time to develop the new questions with other teachers?
  • we need time to learn new technology: podcasts, wikis, blogs, etc.
  • wireless laptops take up to 20 minutes to log on to network. We only have wireless in half the school.
  • Smartboard needs to be in computer lab and in Math Manipulatives/Robotics lab.
  • we have nothing to replace The Learning Equation software and we just spent the last 5-6 years learning how to use it effectively in our labs.
  • we need Cyberschool email accounts to use Wikispaces and with us being a new school, we don't have access to Cyberschools yet.